Negative SEO refers to the practice of executing black hat SEO tactics on another website. Often, an SEO attack is instituted by disgruntled market competitors to reduce the rankings of a website.
Negative SEO can destroy a website through aggressive and malicious backlink spamming, and it is a legitimate threat that can lead to loss of organic search revenue and visibility.
In this regard, the seven tips highlighted in the article by Alexander Peresunko, a leading specialist from Semalt, are useful to victims of black hat SEO attacks, potential victims, and anyone who wants to protect their sites against the dangers of such attempts.
Foremost, regular audits of sites should be performed. Regular link checks are not only a good business practice but can also save bacon for the victims of negative SEO.
Moreover, monitoring a website’s link profile is the best method to spot malicious activities before spreading beyond control.
Link graphs are used in this monitoring. A huge drop in traffic as indicated by link graphs should, therefore, raise the alarm. Furthermore, a manual audit or link auditing software is performed to check backlink health.
Checking a site’s speed is the second way of protecting a site against negative SEO.
As a key ranking factor, it is recommended that site owners use crawling software to monitor suspicious activities anytime the site speed becomes sluggish.
However, if nothing is detected and still the problem exists, one might be a victim of forced crawling.
Thirdly, look up scraped content. Scraping denotes lifting content from other websites for publishing in the marketing industry.
Often, scammers combine such content with attack links to spam a website. Tools like Copyscape can be used to establish if the website’s contents are already plagiarized.
Next, Google My Business must be monitored. Most business owners work hard to create a brand reputation and attract clients.
However, some business sites experience a tidal of negative and fake reviews from customers. In this regard, internet marketers are advised to monitor other businesses’ reputations using Google My Business to avoid falling prey to negative SEO.
Another way to protect a site against negative SEO is to watch keywords’ CTR. Some internet marketers might have experienced a situation where thousands of hits bounce immediately after landing on a site.
Programmed bots target particular keywords that execute this behavior. The attacks can be difficult to notice if the keyword’s CTR is not monitored.
Checking SERP ranking is another important tip for preventing negative SEO on a site. A drop in ranking calls for checking of SERP ranking from time to time.
Moreover, failure to perform SERP ranking checks can lead to competing for de-indexing immediately after a hack. When performing a full overview, it is important to utilize rank tracking software for monitoring a site’s visibility.
Finally, upgrading of site’s security is critical. Specifically, this protects a website against cyber-attacks. Site owners must ensure the use of up-to-date software and the application of necessary security.
Technically, cyber-attacks are not negative SEO but impact a site’s SEO. In conclusion, victims of negative SEO must take action to isolate the problem.
However, it is safer to monitor a site’s performance to prevent negative SEO. Feel free to contact us for Affordable SEO Services in India.
